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en-usEngadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronicsCopyright 2017 AOL Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/10/cancelling-scalebound-is-a-huge-blow-for-platinumgames/https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/10/cancelling-scalebound-is-a-huge-blow-for-platinumgames/https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/10/cancelling-scalebound-is-a-huge-blow-for-platinumgames/#comments

Scalebound is no more. Platinum's Xbox exclusive has been canceled by Microsoft, killing the dream of a Devil May Cry–meets–Last Guardian mashup. What a shame. I saw the game behind closed doors on two separate occasions and was left positively smitten with the concept. It centered on Drew, an arrogant, headphone-loving twenty-something lost in a world filled with dragons. With Thuban, an eventual friend and fire-breathing combat partner, he would scour floating islands and decimate mythical enemies large and small. Throughout the game you would control them both, slashing as Drew and throwing out commands to Thuban.

If you've been anticipating Platinum Games' Scalebound ever since it was unveiled in 2014, you're about to get some crushing news. In the wake of leaks from Kotaku and Eurogamer, Microsoft Studios has confirmed that the dragon action role-playing game has been cancelled. The company hasn't elaborated on why (you can read its statement below), but Eurogamer's sources describe it as the result of a rough development process that grew particularly tortuous in 2016.

So Titan joins Starcraft Ghost and Warcraft Adventures in the Blizzard graveyard. It's a loss for those who were hoping to see what Blizz could do outside of World of Warcraft in the MMO space. But what does this cancellation mean for Blizzard, the industry, and us as MMO gamers? I have a few thoughts, although I'll pre-empt them by predicting that your life will most likely go on just the same it did before this momentous announcement.
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activision-blizzardblizzardblizzard-entertainmentbungiecancellationdestinydevelopmentdiablo iiifeaturedhearthstonehumormiscellaneousmmo industrymmo-industrynewsopinionp10perfect tenperfect-10perfect-tenproject-titanreductionrestartrounduprumorrumorssci-fisunsetthe-perfect-10the-perfect-tentitantop-10top-10-listtop-tentop-ten-listworld of warcraftSat, 27 Sep 2014 15:00:00 -0400319|20967043https://www.joystiq.com/2014/09/19/kickstarted-sword-fighting-game-clang-officially-shelved/https://www.joystiq.com/2014/09/19/kickstarted-sword-fighting-game-clang-officially-shelved/https://www.joystiq.com/2014/09/19/kickstarted-sword-fighting-game-clang-officially-shelved/#comments

Historical sword-fighting game Clang has officially been axed, developer Subutai Corporation announced yesterday. The game earned $526,125 on Kickstarter in July 2012 and according to creator and sci-fi novelist Neal Stephenson, the developer did eventually deliver on a prototype of the game as promised.

"The prototype was technically innovative, but it wasn't very fun to play," Stephenson wrote in an update on Clang's Kickstarter page, admitting he "probably focused too much on historical accuracy and not enough on making it sufficiently fun to attract additional investment." Development paused last year to attract additional investors, which Stephenson said was part of the initial plan for the game. While Clang was slated to be playable with a mouse and keyboard, the game was expected to support peripherals like Sixense's Razer Hydra motion controller and Kickstarter success STEM system.

"Following the opening of Ragnarok 2's Odin Server to Philippine players last month, we are thrilled to be continuing the global expansion of Warpportal's Ragnarok Online 2 by welcoming all players from Southeast Asia regions!" Asiasoft posted.

Southeast Asian players will not be able to access their characters until October 9th, and none of their Kafra Points will make the leap over to the new server.

Winterkewl Games has halted development of its crowdfunded open-world sandbox game Yogventures, announcing that it will "probably need to go out of business and possibly file for bankruptcy" after failing to deliver a product to backers.

Announced in 2012, Yogventures featured characters from Yogscast, a YouTube channel that rose to prominence with a series of popular Minecraft-themed videos. Though the project earned more than $560,000 in backer pledges, developer updates ceased in August of last year, leading many supporters to question development progress and seek refunds.

Speaking to Eurogamer, Yogscast revealed that it will send Steam codes for Nerd Kingdom's in-progress RPG TUG to Yogventures backers as compensation.

"[W]e have organized for Nerd Kingdom to have the source code, assets and designs of Yogventures to ensure we're making best use of Winterkewl's work," Yogscast's statement reads. "For the Yogventures Kickstarter backers the physical rewards should already have been received and we're happy for people to contact us at yogventures@yogscast.com if any are missing so we can look into it for them."

"Although we're under no obligation to do anything, instead we're going to do our best to make this right, and make you really glad you backed the project!" Yogscast co-founder Lewis Brindley said in an e-mail to Yogsventure backers.

A proposed spiritual successor to Rare's Nintendo 64 platformer Banjo-Kazooie has been called off, series composer Grant Kirkhope confirmed in a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" post this week.

"The other guys actually had a secret meeting in a pub near Rare and we even got as far as having a character drawn up and a demo level type thing but it all fell to bits .... everyone's got other jobs, etc.," Kirkhope said.

Developed by a team of ex-Rare staffers, the "Mingy Jongo" project promised to retain the detailed environments and googly-eyed characters of its N64 inspiration. The team's Twitter account went dark in December 2012, and a proposed Kickstarter project failed to materialize.

"We believe that the World of Darkness IP is very valuable and will be reviewing the status of it in the coming weeks and months, but we have no specific plans under consideration at this time," a CCP spokesperson said to CVG.

In the search to understand why World of Darkness got shuttered, players might turn to last December's financials for CCP. In these, the studio lodged a loss of $21 million for the year despite increasing revenue year-over-year. This was mostly due to a "massively increased R&D budget" that was feeding into projects such as WoD.

God of War 3 creative director Stig Asmussen is no longer at Sony Santa Monica, following the recent round of layoffs at the studio and the purported cancellation of his new project. IGN confirmed Asmussen's departure with Sony this week, although it's not known if the 11-year veteran of the studio left of his own accord or not.

Asmussen joined Sony Santa Monica from Midway in 2003, serving as a lead environment artist on the first God of War and art director on God of War 2. He stepped up to creative director on God of War 3, and it's speculated he then began work on a new, unannounced AAA project with a sci-fi theme. According to ex-lead level designer Jonathan Hawkins, who lost his job in the layoffs, that project is now canceled after several years of development.

Asmussen isn't Sony's only high-profile departure of the week, after Infamous: Second Son lead designer Jaime Griesemer revealed he's no longer working for Sucker Punch. He joined the Seattle-based studio back in 2011, having previously worked at Bungie for twelve years where he was involved with all the Halo games, and served as a lead game designer on Destiny between 2008 and 2010. Griesemer didn't give any reasons for the move, simply tweeting he's "Not really talking about it yet, tho."

Update: Griesemer provided Joystiq with a statement regarding his leaving Sucker Punch, assuring fans the timing is not a "cause for concern" about Infamous: Second Son. The full statement follows:

"I appreciate all the well-wishes on the news that I am leaving Sucker Punch, but please don't take the timing as cause for concern about Second Son – it's a great game that I am proud to have on my resume and I can't wait for everyone to play it – or Sucker Punch – a studio on the rise with a bright future – or Sony – a great organization with some of the savviest, most pro-gamer executives in the business. And while I am honored to be mentioned in the same articles as legendary designers like Amy Hennig and Stig Asmussen, please don't look too hard for some sinister pattern.

The truth is that any creative, vibrant industry is necessarily volatile; the only sure bet is that the next few years will not look the same as the last. Change is part of the job, but along with the upheaval and uncertainty, there's opportunity and new challenges. It's an exciting time to be a free agent and I'm going to go see what's out there. Simple as that..."

An unannounced new property at God of War studio Sony Santa Monica is canceled, according to ex-employee Jonathan Hawkins. The former lead level designer, who lost his job in yesterday's round of layoffs, took to Twitter to reveal the IP had been in development "since God of War 3," and indicated it was connected to that game's director, Stig Asmussen.

It's speculated the project in question was a AAA sci-fi game, and that certainly matches with what Battlestar Galactica writer Michael Angeli said at last year's E3. Angeli revealed he was working with Sony Santa Monica on a new and unannounced project, telling Polygon he'd been writing for the game across the prior two and a half years, and that the studio's full team transitioned to work on it after God of War: Ascension.

Sony has yet to confirm any details on the project, and for his part, Hawkins said he couldn't say too much about the situation. However, he did share his frustration over what had happened in a heartfelt series of tweets:

"Yesterday, I was laid off. It was a good 10-year run and I got to make three 90+ games. I lived the dream and got to accomplish all of my goals. Except one... making something out of nothing and creating a new AAA IP. Secondly, the pain that I feel for my friends who have lost their jobs. The saddest and most important part is the game I was creating for the player that will never be played. I'm sorry that I've failed you."

Wii U owners won't be getting the upcoming Arkham Origins story campaign DLC, after Warner Bros. made the decision to cancel it due to a lack of demand. WB confirmed the news in a statement given to VG247, after GoNintendo published a supposed Nintendo of America email spilling the bat-beans.

The Nintendo system and the latest Batman haven't been a dynamic duo, starting with WB not bringing multiplayer to the Wii U version for similarly quantitative reasons. WB's belated call to not give the Wii U further single-player content is curious, especially since there's other DLC from the game on the eShop, such as skins and challenge packs.

The one ray of good in today's news is that, going by the email published by GoNintendo, Nintendo of America is issuing a full refund to those who bought the season pass, despite some of the DLC it covers already being out. Whether that decision is WB's or Nintendo's, it is at least the right one.

Pre-ordering games you're really excited about makes sense, but so does canceling said pre-order once you get suspicious that a game won't turn out to be any good. Changing your mind used to be a bit of a process on Steam, since canceling pre-orders required going through the service's support system. That seems to have changed, though - Steam users have reported the surprise appearance of a "Refund an item" button that displays on a user's store transactions page.

Reddit user lak3108 posted an image from his Steam account showing his refunded Resident Evil 4 HD purchase. The image states the funds were refunded as a wallet credit that can be used toward future purchases.

Shortening transaction processes will always be a welcome thing, so it's great to see that people can manage their Steam shopping with a bit less hassle. Just don't pre-order everything you've ever wanted and then change your mind once a game you forget about releases.

505 Games has removedAshes Cricket 2013 from its Steam catalog following widespread reports of bugs and other technical issues. The publisher later announced that it has no plans to issue a fixed version, effectively canceling the game post-release.

505 Games blames the faulty release on "misplaced" assurances from developer Trickstar Games, who experienced persistent engine issues over an extended development period.

"The net result of the challenges we have faced was a game which, despite our best efforts over the course of a 2 year development, couldn't meet the quality benchmarks of either us, our licensors or our customers," the publisher said in a statement to Rock Paper Shotgun.

505 Games announced that it will contact players who purchased Ashes Cricket 2013 on Steam, and will begin issuing refunds shortly. No word has been issued regarding planned ports for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii U.

Ragnarok Online 2's days are numbered -- if you're living in South Korea, that is. If you're in North Korea, you're probably more concerned about central heating and plumbing than the availability of an MMO.

A planned trilogy of games based on the long-running British sci-fi drama Doctor Who has been cut short, as the British Broadcasting Corporation confirmed with Polygon that two sequels for Supermassive Games' adventure game Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock have been canceled.

Developed in a licensing partnership with the BBC, The Eternity Clock premiered for the PlayStation 3, PS Vita, and PC platforms last year to a largely negative critical reception. Speaking to Polygon, the BBC's vice president of digital entertainment and games Paul Joffe noted that while the corporation's relationship with Supermassive "was and continues to be good," no further partnership projects are planned following next week's release of the PlayStation Move educational game Wonderbook: Walking with Dinosaurs.

Supermassive Games' current project is Until Dawn, a "teen horror movie"-styled game for the PlayStation Move.
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cancellationdoctor-who-the-eternity-clockpcplaystationplaystation-vitaps3supermassive-gamesvitaThu, 07 Nov 2013 15:00:00 -050011|20763398https://www.joystiq.com/2013/10/11/chocobo-racing-3d-cancelled-creator-says/https://www.joystiq.com/2013/10/11/chocobo-racing-3d-cancelled-creator-says/https://www.joystiq.com/2013/10/11/chocobo-racing-3d-cancelled-creator-says/#comments

"The original Chocobo Racing was made by me," Tokita told Siliconera. "But the one for the 3DS was a project being handled by someone else, and as far as I know, it has been closed. Now, if I had made it, I would have made sure that it came out. Unfortunately I was not!"

Chocobo Racing 3D was one of the first games Square Enix announced for the Nintendo 3DS, though few details were revealed regarding the project beyond a handful of screenshots and a brief gameplay snippet. Rest in peace, little chocobo. May you roam forever free in the great choco-rodeo in the sky.
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3dscancellationcancelledchocobochocobo-racing-3dnintendosquare-enixFri, 11 Oct 2013 22:30:00 -040011|20743302https://www.joystiq.com/2013/07/27/fez-2-canceled/https://www.joystiq.com/2013/07/27/fez-2-canceled/https://www.joystiq.com/2013/07/27/fez-2-canceled/#comments

Development on Fez 2 has ceased. The announcement was made earlier today by a tweet on the official Polytron account, which we then corroborated and verified with creator Phil Fish. "It's true," Fish told Joystiq in an email.

Fez 2 was originally announced during last month's E3-concurrent Horizon conference, where it was the surprise, show-ending reveal of the event, following a cavalcade of other new indie developments from different developers. Beyond the fact that it existed, however, and that Fez composer Disasterpiece was also involved in production, nothing specific was known about the project.

Update: The official Polytron Corporation website has been updated with a short, candid message reiterating the game's cancellation.

If you've loved the chance to have nautical pirate battles right in your browser courtesy of Kartuga, we've got sad news for you. InnoGames announced today that the the game has not managed to meet the company's standards for quality. The game also fails to meet the company's standard for cross-platform games, and with no way to bring it up to speed in an appropriate timeframe, the decision has been made to shut the game down in the very near future.

Players with existing cash shop currency will be able to transfer that currency to another title run by InnoGames by August 14th. No exact date for the server shutdown has yet been established, but the official announcement specifies that the game will be available for a few more weeks. Our consolation goes out to all players and any development team members affected by this unexpected cancellation.

Phosphor Games has cancelled its self-powered crowdfunding initiative for Project Awakened and will be issuing refunds to everyone that has contributed to the drive thus far, according to a missive of the game's official website.

"At this time we need to put our funding endeavor on hold effective immediately. Everyone who pledged money will be receiving a full refund," the message reads. "There have been some alternative funding options that have recently been presented to us, so please continue to keep an eye out on our Facebook page for future updates."

Capcom's recently revealed slew of game cancellations didn't involve anything previously announced. In a follow-up conference call to last week's financial statement, the company clarified that most of the canceled games were due between April 2014 and March 2015, although a few were scheduled for the current fiscal year ending March 2014.

Capcom revised its financial forecasts last week with a "special loss" of around $73 million, due to those cancellations. The company also announced a switch to more internal development following disappointment with projects outsourced overseas.

Asked if the company was considering reducing "the number of development lines for home video games," Capcom said developing for that market is still the core element of its strategy. Even if packaged software sales drop, the company said it believes console and online (such as DLC) sales will continue to increase.
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cancellationcapcomfinancialsjapanWed, 24 Apr 2013 18:15:00 -040011|20548181https://www.engadget.com/2013/03/26/t-mobile-if-you-cancel-you-own-the-phone-but-you-can-trade/https://www.engadget.com/2013/03/26/t-mobile-if-you-cancel-you-own-the-phone-but-you-can-trade/https://www.engadget.com/2013/03/26/t-mobile-if-you-cancel-you-own-the-phone-but-you-can-trade/#comments

During its Q & A, T-Mobile's just confirmed that if your purchase one of its phones under its new contract / non-contract "UnCarrier" system, you'll be obligated to buy it out -- but you could keep making monthly payments, or even trade it for another device. If you opt for the latter, you'll get "fair market credit," for your handset, according to the carrier, which said it would decide such a value. In other news, all phones sold will be locked -- so should you decide to switch and keep the phone, you're gonna need T-Mo's help.

It's been quite some time since we heard anything about Mega Man Online, which we first heard about in May 2010. Unfortunately for fans of the Blue Bomber, it looks as if we've now heard the last of it, as Korean website This Is Game has received confirmation from the game's developer, Neowiz, that the project was officially canned last November.

The studio's representative stated, "Both companies have continually discussed to find agreeable points on quality, development time, communication and etc. Ultimately, both companies have agreed to stop the development of Rock Man [Mega Man's Japanese name] Online [early last] November." It's sad news for fans who were looking forward to going Maverick-hunting with some of their closest friends, but if the much-requested Mega Man Legends 3 can't even get through the pipeline, it shouldn't be too surprising that this didn't, either.

Digital River, the e-commerce middleware provider that powers Namco Bandai's shop, experienced an error in its ordering system that resulted in the Wizard's Edition's erroneous post-sellout availability. As a result, some orders have simply seen shipping delays, while others have seemingly failed to process at all or have been cancelled entirely. The number of non-existent packages sold is unknown.

"If your order(s) has been cancelled, we will be reaching out to you by email with additional information as soon as possible," an official update reads. Affected customers that feel proactive about resolving their issue can also contact Digital River directly by emailing namcobandai.en.cs@digitalriver.com, or by calling 952-392-2057.

It's also worth mentioning that while Digital River says it will be addressing the issues of everyone affected, the update does not go into detail about what that resolution may look like. To be on the safe side, we recommend tempering your expectations towards a refund and an apology.

The Kickstarter for Police Warfare, the proof-of-concept-turned-real-project from ex-Ubisoft/EA/Activision/Epic employee-driven Elastic Games has been cancelled by the studio, roughly two hours ago as of press time. As of its cancellation, the project had raised $25,025 of its sought-after total of $325,000 from 784 different backers.

"Thank you so much for the incredible response to the game," reads an update on the Kickstarter. "We're shutting down the kickstarter account but this is by no means the end of Police Warfare. News will be coming." Joystiq is digging around for more information and will update as soon as we have additional details.
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cancellationcancelledelastic-gameskickstarterpolice-warfareSat, 21 Apr 2012 14:06:00 -040011|20221138https://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/24/bethesda-has-no-comment-on-prey-2-cancellation-rumor/https://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/24/bethesda-has-no-comment-on-prey-2-cancellation-rumor/https://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/24/bethesda-has-no-comment-on-prey-2-cancellation-rumor/#comments

Publisher Bethesda has no statement on the rumor that Prey 2 has been canceled, a story which gained significant traction yesterday. Dutch site PSFocus reported that the game, in development at Human Head Studios, was kaput and that an official announcement would be made next week.

The last time Prey 2 showed up on our radar in a significant capacity was around GamesCom last August. As IGN notes, GDC talks planned for the game were cut a few weeks before the show.

This isn't the first time this year a high-profile Bethesda title made its way into the rumored cancellation mill, as DOOM 4 went through the experience twice in six month. The difference? Bethesda flat-out stated "DOOM 4 isn't cancelled."%Gallery-131026%
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bethesdabethesda-softworkscanceledcancellationhuman-head-studiosprey-2zenimax-mediaSat, 24 Mar 2012 10:00:00 -040011|20200300